‘Please,’ I tried to speak, my voice muffled from the dirty rag that had been shoved in my mouth.
‘What could you possibly have to say that I would ever want to hear?’ she shrieked venomously. Her eyes blood red with rage.
‘Where is my baby?’ I shouted, the sound difficult to hear with any volume, but it certainly was audible.
‘Dead, they are all dead,’ she laughed maniacally and shut the door of the trunk, slamming it around me. I screamed, louder than I knew I could, wailing for my son, my family, my sister.
Time passes so slowly when you have no reference point and I had nothing left to live for now. Willing her to come back and end it, I lay perfectly still as the trunk was opened once more.
‘You got the wrong fucking one,’ she yelled, the spit flying out of her mouth, running off the guys face who just looked like he had been beaten to a pulp.
‘What should I do with her?’ he almost whispered, lowering his head and bracing himself for the next beating she would inflict.
‘Kill her and dump the body in the usual spot, make it quiet and clean this shit up. I don’t want blood all over my new car,’ she shrugged, the evil smile, creasing her face as she stalked off back to the house. ‘Get me the other one,’ she yelled as the door shut behind her and I was left staring into the blackened eyes of a man I had not seen before.
Grabbing me by my hands, he pulled me out of the car and dragged me across the field into the wooded area.
‘Please, my baby, my family. Where are they?’ I pleaded, praying with every last ounce of my being that she had not killed my baby and he had escaped.
‘Dead, now shut the fuck up,’ I immediately went limp, the world spinning as I felt my body shut down; there was nothing left.
My eyes started to flutter and as I opened them, I could hear the sounds of someone shovelling soil.
Trying to focus, everything was so blurry; I turned my head to the side and saw the man who had dragged me from the car digging a hole. He was digging my grave.
Part of me just wanted to lie still and wait to be thrown into the hole. The longing to be with my family again so strong. But I could not shake the feeling that JC was alive, he could not have died, they were wrong and I could not just let him kill me when there was a chance my son was still alive. He needed me.
Reaching out my hand, I felt something hard underneath my fingers, a rock. Picking it up I held it hidden under my coat and waited.
The digging suddenly stopped, and I felt myself become rigid with fear, or was it survival instincts? Waiting until he was close enough, with all the force I could muster I brought the rock down hard onto his head. He slumped back and fell into the hole he had been digging for me.
There was no time to wait, I pulled myself up off the floor and just ran as fast as my legs could take me. Having no idea where I was and the fact it was getting darker was impeding me no end, but I just ran and ran.
Seeing lights up ahead, I surged forward, and heard the horn before everything went black.
**
I was lying in bed with JC in our new apartment, the smell of fresh paint all around us, pictures hung on the walls of my sister and family. JC opened his eyes and grinned at me,
‘Momma,’ he said, pulling at my nose to make me wake up.
‘Okay, let’s get you some breakfast,’ wrapping my arms around him and walking down the hall to our new kitchen.
Getting out eggs and milk, I started on the pancakes, placing JC into his high chair and switching on his favourite cartoon, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse as I proceeded to make breakfast.
The phone started ringing, and I answered, my sister on the other end, laughing and giggling with Lucas. He had just proposed, and she was beside herself with happiness. I congratulated them both jumping up and down, watching JC cast a glance my way as though I was crazy, going back to his TV show and pointing at Mickey.
I hung up and finished making breakfast, getting us both dressed and ready for school. It was my first day at college and JC’s at day care. Dressing him in his most cute outfit, and styling his hair, I took a million pictures and realised we were now running late.
Watching as he picked up toys and other kids joined him in a side by side play activity, I felt reassured, but guilty at the same time. Shaking my head, I was doing the right thing for the future. I needed to support him and graduating as an architect would definitely give us a good life. I was sitting down at the lecture theatre, waiting for class to start when I felt my eyes close.
**
‘She just ran out into the middle of the road, I couldn’t stop in time,’ a panic stricken voice rang out. ‘Oh, God, what have I done?’ he continued, weeping in desperation.
‘We will take it from here,’ a female voice, confirmed, sounding authoritative, but kind.
I tried to open my eyes, but my body would not co-operate, just the pain slicing through me with every breath I made. I felt myself being moved and someone touching my arm.
‘I’m just going to hook you up to the monitor, we are going to help you,’ another voice, male advised, touching my hand softly as he continued. I tried to open my eyes and could see faint blue lights in the distance. The sounds overpowering until the silence overtook, drowning everything else out.
**
I could smell fresh paint as I felt my eyes flutter and slowly open.
Looking all around, I could see where the smell was coming from. It was not paint, it was disinfectant, and someone was cleaning the floor outside the room.
I tried to remember where I was, but nothing looked familiar. Voices outside the room, growing louder distracted me as my eyes tried to focus on the faces in front of me.
‘Hi, you are at St Jude’s hospital in Juniper. You were hit by a car, and brought here by ambulance. We could not find any identification on you person to notify your family. You have been asleep for a long time. What is your name?’ the female voice asked gently, and I just stared at her, willing the words to form.
‘I, I, don’t know,’ I began, the memories fuzzy in my head to the extent I could not recall anything. ‘How long have I been here?’ my throat raw and catching on every word.
‘You were brought in on October the 8th 2009,’ she paused, turning to the doctor as though to check what she should be telling me.
‘Please,’ I whimpered, ‘how long?’ my eyes desperate to close again, but I needed to know this first.
‘It is, December 7th 2009. I’m so sorry,’ she began, ‘You are safe here,’ she continued, and I just stared through her as the voice echoed.
My eyes closed, never wanting to open again.
I had been there for over a month and none of my family had come looking for me.
They were all dead.
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I am blessed beyond belief to be a mummy and have written since childhood. You can read more about my butterfly book series via my website isabellaredwood.com and future projects. I hope you enjoy reading my stories as much as I enjoy writing them.
You can connect with me via twitter @SophN7, my website isabellaredwood.com and Goodreadshttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28220125-the-beginning. I would very much like to receive your feedback and would appreciate if you would consider reviewing the purchase via Amazon and Goodreads.
Book three in the butterfly series, Echo – Coming Soon
The Beginning (The Butterfly Series Book 2) Page 24